Saudi Arabia: Don't Go Nuts With Alternative Energy Dreams

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister would like to remind the world of something:

Oil reserves in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest, will last for 80 years at current production rates and the world will rely on fossil fuels for four-fifths of its energy needs for many decades to come.

For this reason, he’s warning against getting too excited about the prospects of solar or wind energy. According to Bloomberg, he’s warning against a “premature shift” to renewable energy.

All energy sources have a role in meeting the energy demand though the fossil fuels of oil, natural gas and coal will remain the world’s energy “work horse” for many decades to come, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said in a speech at the Energy Pact Conference in Geneva today.

New technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, will help make fossil fuels more environmentally acceptable, he said.

But he’s not saying that the world should forget alternatives altogether, as the state’s energy company, Saudi Aramco is pressing into the solar market, hoping to become the global leader.